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BREAKING – “Obama to meet with health insurance CEOs ,” by AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace: “Obama and senior aides will meet with CEOs [today] to discuss helping people enroll in new plans and will talk about ways to minimize any disruptions as consumers switch to new plans.”

--WSJ A1 sidebar, “Insurers Caught Off Guard By Policy Reversal,” by Timothy W. Martin, Christopher Weaver and Jon Kamp: “[R]attled health insurers … said they were unsure how to revive canceled policies in short order. … Obama's decision to let people keep their old policies undercuts years of preparations for the overhaul of the health-insurance market and introduces new uncertainties. Two senior insurance executives said they had not yet received any formal direction on how to carry out the change, and had only learned the outlines of the plan Thursday morning. … Obama's proposal wouldn't require insurers to resurrect terminated policies, but gives them the choice to do so. At least two insurance commissioners, in Washington state and Washington, D.C., were quick to declare they wouldn't allow insurers there to continue offering plans that don't comply with the law.” http://goo.gl/1yrKow

--“Barack Obama’s messy breakup with insurers,” by David Nather: “He’s had a love-hate relationship with the insurers ever since the early days of the health care reform debate. He yelled at them in public for giving people skimpy coverage, then slipped them … the individual mandate they wanted to gain millions of new customers. Even during the implementation of Obamacare, he has stuck with the industry, staying in the rocky relationship despite all the petty bickering. He has to use them as a foil to advertise the law’s benefits, like all the rebates from greedy insurance companies. But he also needs them to make the law work — which is why he has been careful not to raise his voice at them even as they sent cancellation notices to individual insurance customers throughout the country. Now, Obama is putting them on the spot. The message of his proposed one-year fix to the cancelled policies is this: I’m giving you a chance to clean up the mess. If you don’t clean it up, don’t blame it on me.” http://goo.gl/SXipsZ

“MORNING JOE” GRAPHIC, with Obama headshot: “In Remission.”

BIG-FOOT CHORUS SINGS OBAMA BLUES:

--“The Obamacare fumble,” by Todd S. Purdum: “It’s the cardinal rule of marketing management: Under-promise and over-deliver. If the sign at ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ says the wait is 45 minutes, and your kids are floating along on the ride in half that time, Disneyland really is the Happiest Place on Earth. So it’s little wonder that the glaring contrast between the White House’s perpetually optimistic talk about its health care plan — ‘Try it! You’ll like it!’ — and the messy realities of its rollout has sent President Obama’s job approval ratings to all-time lows, and for the first time left the public with a negative view of his honesty in some surveys. From the start, the plan was more complex and unpredictable than Obama liked to acknowledge, reliant as it was on the profit-driven market forces of the private insurance industry, individually regulated in all 50 states. And his strategy for selling it was always based on an unspoken assumption that the public could not tolerate such unpleasant truths.” http://goo.gl/WGbWvm

--N.Y. Times A1, “News Analysis: As Troubles Pile Up, A Crisis of Confidence,” by Michael D. Shear: “Barack Obama won the presidency by exploiting a political environment that devoured George W. Bush in a second term plagued by sinking credibility, failed legislative battles, fractured world relations and revolts inside his own party. President Obama is now threatened by a similar toxic mix. The disastrous rollout of his health care law not only threatens the rest of his agenda but also raises questions about his competence in the same way that the Bush administration’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina undermined any semblance of Republican efficiency. … The difficulties have put Mr. Obama on the defensive at exactly the moment he might have seized political advantage [after the] shutdown … Republicans readily made the Hurricane Katrina comparison.” http://goo.gl/6RukTd

--USA Today banner, “Health law shakes presidency: Obama apologizes, but that might not be enough now,” News Analysis by Susan Page: “For more than three years, congressional Republicans have flailed at the Affordable Care Act with limited success. Now, in the space of six weeks, the administration's own missteps — the botched roll-out of the federal exchange website and the broken promises over consumers being able to keep insurance plans they like — have significantly eroded confidence in Obama's signature legislative achievement … Obama Thursday fueled questions about his administration's competence and his own leadership, the most fundamental of presidential characteristics. … ‘What's happened in recent weeks is, I think, a dagger aimed at the heart of Obama's presidency,’ says presidential scholar William Galston of the Brookings Institution, a veteran of the Clinton White House. … ‘[I]t has posed a direct challenge to his standing as president in the eyes of the American people.’” http://goo.gl/teH8FG

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Marco Rubio plans to introduce legislation next week to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s “risk corridor” provision, which would give government payments to health plans with higher than expected costs. A Rubio aide: “The President's announcement … increases the likelihood of a federal bailout of insurance companies … Rubio will introduce legislation … that will ensure the Obama Administration doesn't have unaccountable blank check-writing authority … [T]he current law gives the HHS Secretary broad authority in this area with no Congressional approval/oversight. Our legislation will … protect … taxpayers from potentially having to bail out the insurance industry.”

BLINKING RED -- “U.S. official in July feared HealthCare.gov 'crash,’” by Reuters’ David Morgan: “Almost three months before the botched launch of HealthCare.gov, a U.S. health official expressed frustration with a main contractor working on the website, fearing quality assurance issues could ‘crash the plane at take-off’’ … The documents were released by Republican investigators with the House Energy and Commerce Committee. … Two series of internal emails in July between officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), including HealthCare.gov project manager Henry Chao, describe struggles with contractors, staff shortages and software problems … In a July 16 email sent ahead of a meeting with then-prime contractor CGI Federal, Chao describes the agency's low confidence …

“‘I just need to feel more confident they are not going to crash the plane at take-off,’ Chao says … A day after writing the email about CGI, Chao assured a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee that HealthCare.gov would be ready on time. … On July 20, he distributed a video link to the testimony via email and urged CMS staff to make good on the pledge … ‘I wanted to share this with you so you can see and hear that … I under oath stated we are going to make Oct. 1,’ Chao wrote. ‘I would like you (to) put yourself in my shoes standing before Congress, which in essence is standing before the American public, and know that you speak the tongue of not necessarily just past truths but the truth that you will make happen.’”

** A message from Altria: Attitudes toward tobacco have changed, and Altria’s companies have significantly changed how we do business. We realize our continued success depends on marketing our products in a manner that meets society’s expectations and finding new ways to reduce the harm caused by tobacco products. Take a closer look at www.altria.com. **

COMING ATTRACTIONS – MICHAEL MORELL book coming in spring 2015: “Twelve, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, announced the acquisition of ‘THE GREAT WAR OF OUR TIME: An Insider’s Account of the CIA’s Fight Against al Qa’ida,’ by former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Michael J. Morell with Bill Harlow. Editorial Director Sean Desmond acquired North American rights from Andrew Wylie of The Wylie Agency LLP. … ‘Morell was a top CIA officer who saw it all—the only person with President Bush on 9/11/01 and President Obama on 5/1/11 during the capture and killing of Osama Bin Ladin—and one of the main people responsible for America’s safety during this new kind of war. ‘The Great War of Our Time’ will be a vivid, newsmaking account of the CIA, a life of secrets and a war in the shadows.”

--PLAYBOOK BACKSTORY: “Michael Morell served in the CIA for over three decades, including as Acting Director twice. He's the only person to have been with the President -- two different POTUSES (Or is it POTI?) -- on the two most momentous days of the 21st century: He was President Bush's daily briefer, and at his side throughout 9/11. He was in the Sit Room with President Obama on 5/1/11, the day Bin Laden was killed. That unique factoid sums up his America First, nonpartisan nature. He got the full ‘60 Minutes’ profile of his stellar career, leaving many asking why this was his first national TV interview -- he should have been out there making that case in that way every day.

“Since leaving the CIA, Morell has become a hot ticket on the speaking circuit. His non-partisanship goes so far that both parties in his home state of Ohio should take a look at him for statewide office. And based on HUMINT sources, Playbook assesses with a high degree of confidence that Morell will have equally exciting news about his future to share next week.”

THE BIG IDEA – Economist cover, all eight global editions, “Every step you take: Google glass, ubiquitous cameras and the threat to privacy … The recorded world”: “Some 10,000 people are already testing a prototype of Google Glass, a miniature computer worn like spectacles. It aims to replicate all the functions of a smartphone in a device perched on a person’s nose. Its flexible frame holds both a camera and a tiny screen, and makes it easy for users to take photos, send messages and search for things online. Glass may fail, but a wider revolution is under way. … [A]s cameras become smaller, more powerful and ubiquitous, new laws may be needed to preserve liberty. … Silicon Valley emphasises the liberating power of technology ….But the freedom that a gadget gives one person can sometimes take away liberty from another. Liberal politicians have been lazy about defending the idea of personal space, especially online..” See the cover. http://goo.gl/4sL3z5Read the editorial. http://goo.gl/xJnJRL

FIRST LOOK – Forthcoming NRSC release: “NRSC raised $3.8 million in October, its highest [monthly] total of the year thus far – despite the government shutdown. The NRSC remains debt-free, while the DSCC still had over $7.5 million in debt entering the month.”

SUNDAY SO FAR:

--CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Bob Schieffer hosts live from the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas, formerly the site of the Texas School Book Depository.

THE JUICE – “Caroline Kennedy Brings Camelot Mystique to Japan as Envoy,” by Bloomoberg’s Andrew Davis and Isabel Reynolds: “Referring to John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy said on her arrival in Tokyo she was ‘proud to carry forward my father's legacy of public service’ … Kennedy, 55, will represent the U.S. at a time when the Obama administration is making Asia a foreign policy priority via what it calls a strategic and economic ‘rebalancing.’ … Kennedy replaces John Roos, a former Silicon Valley lawyer and fund raiser for … Obama, and is the first woman to serve in the role. … Kennedy's ambassadorship becomes official in Japan on Nov. 19, when she will travel through the streets of Tokyo in an antique carriage drawn by two horses to the Imperial Palace to present her credentials to Emperor Akihito.”

2016 WATCH – “Hillary Clinton pushes for women on world stage,” by Katie Glueck: “Hillary Clinton on Thursday stressed the importance of advancing women around the world, nodding to those seeking office as she also made the case for robust American leadership on the world stage. Clinton’s remarks came at a gala hosted by the National Defense University Foundation, held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in downtown Washington. The potential 2016 presidential candidate cited women’s achievements in resolving conflicts in places including Liberia, Northern Ireland and Rwanda … Clinton’s foundation recently launched a new initiative designed to empower women. Clinton also cautioned against an America that turns inward on foreign policy — contrasting with an approach supported in some instances by other possible 2016 contenders, like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

“‘I hear all this talk about how we need to withdraw from the world …Even tonight, some references to the really unfortunate consequences of sequester and budget cuts. We have to decide if we intend to continue America’s global leadership. … I hope that as we look to other countries to make progress we understand how important it is that the United States continues to lead the way … Lead the way on security, set the priorities, assemble the coalitions, design the strategies. Because in the absence of our doing that, there really isn’t anybody else.” … On Friday, she will join Secretary of State John Kerry and former First Lady Laura Bush at Georgetown in a discussion about Afghan women.” http://goo.gl/XsqUpB

DESSERT – “Altered landscape for Sony, Microsoft consoles,” by AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in N.Y.: Sony’s “PlayStation 4 goes on sale Friday and [Microsoft’s] Xbox One will be released next week. … Both Microsoft and Sony position their gaming systems as entertainment devices meant to take over the living room. The Xbox 360 started streaming movies from Netflix in 2008 and the PlayStation 3, which already served as a Blu-ray player, soon followed, along with a bevy of other entertainment options. Experts wondered whether gaming systems would soon replace cable set-top boxes. … Along came Google's Chromecast, the Roku player, Apple TV and, of course, a slew of tablets. There are many ways to stream movies, TV and music into the home now. In that sense, the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 are no longer in a traditional, head-to-head battle. …

“Sony expects to sell 5 million units of the PlayStation 4 by the end of its fiscal year in March. The PlayStation 3, in comparison, sold 3.5 million units in that time period seven years ago. Microsoft declined to offer a sales outlook for the Xbox One through the holidays, but … Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter … expects 3 million Xbox Ones to be sold through December and 4.5 million through March. Why does the PlayStation get a slight edge? Price could be one reason. The Xbox One, which includes an updated Kinect motion sensor, will cost $500, which is $100 more than the PlayStation 4. In contrast, the PlayStation 3 went on sale at $500 or $600 depending on the model in November 2006 while the Xbox 360 cost $400. Most new game software will cost $60.” http://goo.gl/0GxeRg

** A message from Altria: Altria is the parent company of America’s leading manufacturers of tobacco products with premium brands like Marlboro, Copenhagen and Black & Mild – as well as well-known wineries Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest. Our products are intended for adults only and we recognize the importance of marketing them accordingly. Our companies support several approaches to reducing the harm caused by smoking including preventing underage tobacco use and connecting adults who have decided to quit smoking with information to help them. We believe a complementary strategy focused on developing innovative tobacco products that could reduce harm for smokers is also important. In addition to communicating openly about the health risks of tobacco, we provide funding for the widely-recognized We Card® age verification program and non-profit community groups that help kids make healthy decisions. It’s our way of doing business at Altria today. Take a closer look at www.altria.com. **